Saraya’s partner was who AEW said it was

There were no credible reports that Mercedes Moné (fka Sasha Banks) would be debuting on Dynamite when the show was in Los Angeles on Jan. 11. On last Wednesday’s show, AEW announced Toni Storm as the mystery partner Saraya’s been teasing for her tag match against Dr. Britt Baker & Women’s champ Jamie Hayter.

But they also gave folks holding out hope Moné would appear just enough to tune in to be sure, including retweeting interview clips of Saraya dodging questions about her former WWE co-worker in the hours leading up to the show.

So... did The Boss CEO show up in the Kia Forum?

Nope.

If you didn’t have your fingers crossed Mercedes and TK had worked the world, the match played out pretty much as you expected. Much of it was a showcase for the former Paige, working just her second match since getting cleared to come out of retirement last fall.

At the midpoint, Hikaru Shida made her way to the ring. Shida was none too happy when Saraya picked Storm last week, but her attempt at interference was on behalf of the babyfaces. It didn’t work out that way, though. With Rebel distracting the referee, Baker grabbed the kendo stick Shida slid into the ring.

After a shot from the Dentist, Hayter ended Toni Time.

It wasn’t her intent, but I doubt Saraya and Storm will be trust Shida on that front.

Some interesting matches can come out of this, but will they draw as much Moné as Mercedes would have?

Get complete results and coverage of everything from tonight’s episode of Dynamite here.